Letterpress Yard Sale in Portland

Check out this very cool event this Sunday!

What: Letterpress Yard Sale
Where: Liberty Hall, 311 N Ivy
When: Sunday, August 3, 11 am - 4 pm
Detail: A one-day sale with over a dozen letterpress printers and
printshops selling original prints, letterpress equipment, and odds
and ends. Plus Demos!

Here are all the juicy details straight from Carye of Red Bat Press who will be there selling off some of her work:

You are cordially invited to the first annual Letterpress Yard Sale Sunday, August 3rd, from 11am to 4pm, at Liberty Hall in N Portland (311 N Ivy). Come browse letterpress-printed broadsides, cards and artist books as well as type and cabinets, bindery equipment, and tools. See demos on a small table-top letterpress throughout the day.

Vendors include:
the Oregon College of Art and Craft, Crack Press, Textura Letterpress, Triangular Press, Satsuma Press, Red Bat Press, Letterary Press, Sarah Contrary, Twin Ravens Press, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, Stumptown Printers, Arcana 27, Tiger Food Press, and the American Amateur Press Association (AAPA). The sale is free and open to the public.

Good Old Fashioned Fun

OK, so I was going to write a post about how I went to the Washington County Fair and saw really hysterical things like...

a prize winning guinea pig...

and a 4-H exhibit of fruit and veggie sculpture...

and this bunny that had a crazy hair-do.

It was all really funny and silly and made me laugh quite a bit.

And then today I found THIS!

Holy Crap! It is a website consisting entirely of crafts you can make using tampons. They offer fun and useful project ideas to suit many of your holiday needs, including, but not limited to...

Tampon ghosts for Halloween.

A tampon menorah for Hanukkah.

And my personal favorite - a tampon toupee for Father's Day.

So, I thought this banana wearing a Barbie doll dress at the fair was the funniest thing I'd seen all year...and then I saw that toupee. Wow. I can't tell you how glad I am that things like this exist. They make the world a better place.

If you would like to see more of my photos from the Washington County Fair you can view them on my Flickr.

New Goodies on Etsy!

I just updated my Etsy shop (finally!?!) - here is a sneak peek!

Brown + Pink I-Heart-Scissors Skirt

Cute Vintage Green Sewing-Machine-Love Cardigan Sweater

Magenta Cotton Blend I-Heart-Scissors A-Line Skirt w/ Pockets

Green Love-Your-Scissors Cardigan Sweater

More coming soon! Plus my new vintage craft supply Etsy shop is in the works and should be launching in the next week!

Cracked Pots Recycled Garden Art Show

Today I took a trip out to Cracked Pots at McMenamin's Edgefield in Troutdale, OR (just outside Portland). I had been hearing about this show for years and was excited to finally make it out there. Plus, I had a few friends selling there so it was a chance to see new work by some of my favorite artists.
It's going on for one more day so head on out there if you feel inspired.

Cracked Pots
Wednesday, July 23rd * 1-8pm
at McMenamin's Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St. Troutdale, OR 97060

My Fabulous friend Janet Julian never ceases to amaze me! She combines her painting talents with significant junk to create angels, icons and mermaids. These Madonnas were my faves.

Janet also made these fantastic angels out of old wood molding.

I loved these garden balls covered with marbles by Ta Dah.

My neighbor Tim of The Reclamation Project is a whiz with a router and makes these awesome giant wooden bugs and super cool carved wall plaques.

Suzanne from Mugwump had her usual assortment of fantastic oddities including these cool maket totes made from old place mats and tablecloths...

and these garden tea light holders made from vintage tart tins and knitting needles!

These amazing children's chairs were my favorite things from an artist I had never seen before...and can you believe I didn't get their information!? Dang! They were made with vintage metal advertisements and garden hoses. So fantastic!

Be Good to Your Teeth!

OK, so I normally would never post a photo of myself in such a compromising position for all the world to see...but I'm trying to spread the gospel of frequent dental visits and maybe also find a little redemption.
My story starts when we lost our dental insurance and stopped going for regular cleanings. Flash forward three years (that's now) when one of my fillings falls out. I go to the dentist and find that actually two fillings have fallen out and my teeth are completely yucky. Plus there may be a root canal in my near future. Urgh.

Three painful appointments, two cavities and about $700 later I have learned my lesson and plan to be much nicer to my teeth. Maybe this is a no-brainer for most of you, but I know there are lots of folks out there just like me who don't have insurance and think there are much better things to spend their spare money on. Trust me! It's worth the $80 - $100 every six months to save the only teeth you have.
Sorry teeth!

Antique Expo Wrap-up

This past weekend was one of my favorite events of the year - The Antique + Collectibles Show at the Expo Center here in Portland. Palmer Wirfs holds three shows a year in Portland (March, July + October) and the July show is said to be the largest antique and collectible show in the country with a total of 1800 booths inside and out. What I love about the Summer show is the outdoor section of over 300 booths - it has a sort of flea market feel where you can get incredible deals.

The Expo has become a tradition with my girlfriends and I. This time I was with the pregnant posse - all three of them are expecting babies in the fall!

Part of the appeal of the Expo is seeing things I have never seen before. It's almost like going to the museum for me. You get to see very weird stuff like hair art from the turn of the century or a 1950's leopard print TV. My favorite strange sighting this time was this box of vintage doll's eyes from Germany. Creepy!

I also love to see things that I own or that I had when I was a kid and find out what they are worth. I still have these Bert + Ernie puppets from my childhood - I could have had a second set for a mere $22.

I have always dreamed of having one of these kitchen queen cupboards in my house. This one was super cute with it's frosted windows and Bakelite handles and was only $195. If only I had a place to put it...

I spotted this never-been-used mug + pitcher set by Blisscraft of Hollywood and decided I couldn't live without it. I am a sucker for brightly colored vintage plastic kitchenware.

The hard part is going to be removing the cute labels so I can actually use it. I see margaritas in it's future!

My goal this time was to only buy things that I could really use - no dust collecting knick-knacks that would sit on a shelf (I already have too many of those!) - and I did pretty well sticking to that rule. Here is a pile of cute vintage fabrics that I bought - most will become skirts or dresses in the near future.

I also got some vintage trims and buttons for future projects. The bolts of sparkle rick-rack were only $2 each!

Long pink vintage gloves and cute vintage wrapping paper...not necessarily things that I needed but things I couldn't resist!

R.I.P. Amusement Park Fun

:(sad bumper cars):

Today I mourn the loss of my ability to enjoy amusement rides. Not sure if it's hormones or old age, but over the last few years I have been experiencing more and more nausea when I go on amusement rides. Yes that's right...I feel like I'm going to puke. I was crazy for any ride that came my way for most of my life, but now...not so much. For a while it was only on spinning rides but little by little it has grown to include most rides, including roller coasters.


The other day we made our first trip of the year to Oaks Park here in Portland - it's a great old-school amusement park with lots of vintage character mixed with some new cheesiness. I started taking my son there as soon as he could walk and we rejoiced the day when he was tall enough to go on the big rides with me. I love being the Mom that goes on all the rides with my kid while all the wimpy Moms sit on the bench and watch. Well, on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 I became a wimpy bench sitter. Almost every ride I went on made me feel sick. Denial forced me to continue to go on several rides, trying to convince myself that I could handle it. Urgh. Not good.

Tell me ladies out there...am I alone in this? Is it common? Is there hope for me? Help!


On a positive note, I had a great time roller skating at Oaks Park Roller Rink and ate a yummy snow cone at Sellwood Park afterwards. Although roller skating did make my hip hurt ;)

If all this sounds like fun, head on down to Oaks Park! They have all sorts of specials throughout the Summer, including the two for one Tuesday deal - buy one ride bracelet, get one free. We paid $14.25 for two deluxe ride bracelets which included admission to roller skating and unlimited rides on everything except the Go Karts. Check their website for deals on other days of the week.

First Thursday Art Shows!

This month two lovely and talented artists are having First Thursday art openings...and you won't have to work too hard since they are mere steps away from each other! Head on down to the Indie Rock Block and support two really swell guys while also supporting two fantastic Portland institutions (Reading Frenzy and The IPRC).

Ryan Berkley is the creative talent behind the illustrations in both the Super Crafty book and Crafty Wonderland posters and has become an overnight Etsy superstar with his fantastic illustrations of animals in clothes. Come check out a new batch of animal friends in his upcoming show Sophisticated Menagerie at Reading Frenzy. Who doesn't love a turtle wearing a fez?!

Sophisticated Menagerie - Drawings by Ryan Berkley
at Reading Frenzy
921 SW Oak St. in Portland
Opening Reception Thursday, July 3rd 6pm - ?
Runs through the end of July

And just upstairs from Reading Frenzy is the Independent Publishing Resource Center where "urban folk artist /wildman" Justin "Scrappers" Morrison will be selling his work and releasing his new limited edition hardback book entitled "Camp". Justin wrote, illustrated and published the book through Grass Hut. Can't wait to get my hands on one!

CAMP
Book Release + Art Exhibit by Justin "Scrappers" Morrison
at The IPRC
917 SW Oak St. - 2nd Floor #218
Opening Reception Thursday, July 3rd 6-9pm
Runs through the end of July